August 28, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



315 



This excellent work is Volume 1 of a treatise 

 in the ceramic and silicate industries by the 

 same author. The processes used are those 

 used in the testing department of the County 

 Pottery Laboratory, StafEordshire, for the 

 analysis of clay, bricks, glazes, enamels, re- 

 fractories, and for the coloring materials and 

 minerals used in ceramics. 



The book is divided into five parts with an 

 historical introduction of ten pages. 



Part I., containing 140 pages, takes up 

 rather exhaustively the following chapters: 

 I. Weighing, 25 pages; II. The Measurement 

 of Volumes, 17 pages ; III. Volumetric Analy- 

 sis, 37 pages; IV. Oolorimetry and Turbidin- 

 ity, 5 pages; V. Filtration and Washing, 23 

 pages; VI. Heating and Drying, 10 pages; 

 VII. Pulverization and Grinding, 7 pages; 

 Vm. Sampling, 14 pages; IX. The Eeagents, 

 11 pages. 



Part n. containing 98 pages takes up care- 

 fully and in detail the analyses of clays and 

 other silicates. The accuracy obtainable is 

 illustrated by tables giving the results of 

 actual analyses of silicates showing the varia- 

 tions to be expected for each determination. 

 The methods used are practically those used 

 by the U. S. Geological Survey somewhat 

 shortened. 



Part III., containing 121 pages, takes up 

 the analysis of glass, glazes,, enamels and 

 colors, including the determination of arsenic, 

 antimony, tin, lead, bismuth, mercury, copper, 

 cachnium, zinc, manganese, cobalt and nickel. 



Part IV., 128 pages, describes special meth- 

 ods for the determination of the following: 

 molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, 

 gold, selenium, aluminum, beryllum, iron, 

 chromium, vanadium, uranium, zirconium, 

 thorium, the rare earths, barium, strontium, 

 calcium, magnesium and the alkalies. 



Part v., containing 111 pages, describes 

 special methods for the acids and non-metals, 

 carbon, boron, oxide, water, phosphorus, sulfur, 

 the halogens, and the rational analysis of 

 clays. 



Finally the Appendix contains 55 pages of 

 analytical tables, etc. 



This work is just what its title indicates, 

 " A Treatise on Quantitative Inorganic Analy- 



sis," written more especially with the needs of 

 the ceramic chemist in view. It is profusely 

 illustrated with photographs, drawings and 

 graphs, and the bibliography given in the foot- 

 notes is quite complete. 



The methods given are perhaps somewhat 

 unnecessarily long for the technical chemist, 

 but this is on the safe side and the chemist 

 can shorten the methods to suit himself. Dr. 

 Mellor has left out gas and fuel analyses on 

 the ground that there are so many books 

 specializing in these subjects. 



The book is a very helpful addition to the 

 library of the analytical chemist, particularly 

 because it keeps in view always the analysis 

 of the kind of things the chemist has actually 

 to analyze and not merely pure salts. It will 

 be invaluable to the ceramic chemist. 



Dr. Mellor is to be congratulated on the 

 completion of this work. 



D. J. Demorest 



TSE COLLEGE CUBBICULUM 



President Meiklejohn, of Amherst College, 

 in his recent annual report, makes some inter- 

 esting contributions to the discussion of the 

 college curriculum. In the first place, he 

 shows it to be an unfounded rumor that Am- 

 herst has become distinctly a " classical " 

 school, to the neglect of the sciences. Dean 

 Ferry's statistics of student registration, pub- 

 lished last year in Science, give Amherst a 

 median position among the New England col- 

 leges, both in science and in the classics, as 

 well as in English and other modern languages, 

 and a low position only in the "humanistic 

 sciences," including history, economics and 

 philosophy. It is true that Amherst has 

 abandoned the B.S. degree, but this was done 

 partly because that degree attracted a lower 

 grade of students and was regarded as infe- 

 rior to the Arts degree and easier to obtain, 

 and partly for the purpose of simplifying the 

 mechanism of a prescribed curriculum, to 

 which policy Amherst is now committed. For 

 the last few years, its curriculum has been 

 largely prescribed and has demanded much 

 concentration upon " majors." The plan has 

 been found defective in one respect, since 



